For a moment, I thought I had a brilliant idea. Since nudist and naturist appear to have been co-opted by p@rn, I figured we needed a new name.
First and foremost, what we do is NOT about sex! That’s the whole point of the lifestyle and an important distinction for me and the tiny percentage of genuine clothing-averse folks out there (.0001% of the population, probably). This isn’t to say we’re a bunch of prudes—we love sex as much as the next guy—but for us, nudity and sex go together like baseball and sex. You can love sex and baseball, or you can be abstinent and love baseball, but the two concepts are entirely separate.
I am not here to kink shame; I am here to English shame. As a lover of language, I care a lot about proper word use, so saying nudism is about sex is like saying vegetarianism is about eating meat. If getting your kit off gets your kink on, a word already exists for what you’re into. Exhibitionism. You can also go with voyeurism if you prefer. But why, oh why, in Alashiya’s name, do exhibitionists insist on calling themselves nudists? Maybe it’s the simple fact that nude is right there in the title, and we, as Puritan-bred Americans, have been brainwashed into believing that when skin is on display, genital action needs to follow. Definitions matter. They matter because when I am playing pool volleyball with the wife and kids, watching the latest Marvel flop, or painting D&D miniatures, equating nudism to sex is equating what I do with incest and pedophilia. When nudists in Britain rented a water park to spend the day with their families, textile parents, misunderstanding the concept, reacted with horror and disgust. A similar thing happened in the States. Hundreds of tickets were sold to a clothing-free event at an off-season water park, but angry protesters shut the whole thing down. Too often, people see what they want to see, and in the case of natural nudity, everyone BUT nudists are fixated on genitalia.
Searching the web for innocent depictions of the human body, or fellow nudists in general, becomes an exercise in frustration. I can’t tell you how often I come across “nudist” art, “nudist” books, or people claiming to be nudists when what they really mean is, “I get off staring at T&A.” I have met Redditors who’ve argued with me about this simple fact, who call themselves “naughty nudists.”
When considering a new moniker, I’d have liked to go with innocent nude or family nude, but the word-hungry algorithm has already turned those words into fetish search terms. So I decided to be as direct as possible with NSN, which stands for Non-Sexual Nude. That way, I figured, nobody could possibly misunderstand our intentions! Of course, when I actually Googled non-sexual nude, a “non-sexual nude” porn site popped up. Seriously, Google!?! Non-sexual porn is as much an oxymoron as sexual nudism. Do words even mean anything anymore?
Look, the problem isn’t us; it isn’t with people wanting to live their lives in a way that feels most genuine and natural. It isn’t with us who believe humans are rational creatures with the capacity to treat those of the opposite sex with respect. The problem lies with the algorithm and the late-stage capitalist machine driving it, the same click-bait machine that has our kids addicted to their phones, the same big tech companies that have us hooked on this new-fangled digital heroine to the detriment of our mental health. Social media, the algorithm, call it what you will, does not thrive when happiness is free. This is why Facebook works so diligently to replace friendship, why TikTok has replaced going outdoors, and why PornHub has replaced intimacy. Contrary to what resort fees might suggest, the nudist business simply isn’t very lucrative. Genuine nudists don’t need magazines or videos because staring at naked people isn’t what we’re about. (I may appreciate the occasional pic or video only to confirm that we do, in fact, exist! But this is not something I would ever pay for). See, you can’t put a price tag on the absence of something, and nudism is nothing more than the absence of shame. It’s the notion that we don’t need fancy lingerie to sleep or expensive bathing suits to swim.
If public nakedness cost money, it would no longer be taboo, no longer be embarrassing to admit to friends, family, and coworkers. Living without clothes, for those who choose to live that way, would become as ubiquitous as drinking alcohol, sporting a tattoo, or using marijuana, and Mark Zuckerberg would surely find a way to make a billion dollars off it. As it stands, the fashion industry has too much to lose from us. Accepting your body in its natural state, recognizing that there’s no shame in seeing and being seen, is the simplest and least expensive way to embrace life and the myriad pleasures of sensory perception that go with it, and therein lies the problem. The Internet will never promote what it cannot exploit for profit.
But what do you guys think? Would going by a different name, like Non-Sexual Nude, help us get the point across? Or are we just hopeless optimists?
Being and Nakedness 
I call it textile free. Everyone I say this to understands what I mean However, the West has embraced multiculturalism. Several more backward tribes cover their bodies completely. Cleaners at Western establishments are usually from these tribes.
As much as we may wish for a return to the 1950s and earlier one cannot avoid the sexualisation of the naked body that kicked off in the 1960s and was monopolised by the fashion industry and a new generation of journalists and porn entrepreneurs.
Instead we strive for greater balance, building more on the code of conduct established by the British Naturism organisation which is accepted by law enforcers. The better behaved social naturists are the more acceptable we will gradually become provided we haven’t all blown ourselves to pieces by then or have had to retire underground to avoid the damaging rays of the sun.
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You hhave articulated well my own thoughts and previous rants on subject. I’ve argued with others who want to use the terms nudist and naturist as blanket terms to include anyone who anything to do with nudity. Like you, I’ve explained that the terms mean something specific. For instance, you can’t say you’re a nudist just because you take a shower nude. There’s more to it than that.
Another label might be worthwhile but we have to be sure it’s understood well and can’t be hijacked by porn or those wanting to be inclusive.
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